Emerald Dreams- Pokemon Emerald Nuzlocke
by BexXx97
Summary: In a desperate attempt to escape from her negligent mother, Esmerelda Green goes on a Pokemon Journey with her new starter Pokemon, a trustworthy Treecko called Lesley. Gaining and losing Pokemon and friends along the way, Esmerelda is determined to become Hoenn's new champion, as well as also discover the secrets of this new region she now lives in.
1. Littleroot Town

**Chapter One**

**Littleroot Town**

Thud. Thud. Thud. That was all Esmerelda could hear as she sat in the back of the dimly lit moving truck, trying to play her gameboy as best as she could as the truck violently jerked her from side to side, occasionally sending her tumbling to the other side of the truck, along with about ten boxes packed with her family's belongings. She was sure that by now her mum's finest china must have been smashed into pieces, which made her feel like karma had taken place after being forced to ride in the truck rather than the car, for reasons she was still unsure of. To be honest, Esmerelda thought it was because her mum didn't want to sit with her for the journey from Johto, which was pure cruelty in it's own way. She hadn't even been allowed out for the hour ferry journey, despite the fact that by then she'd needed the toilet. It'd been several hours since then, and now she was just ready to burst. Occasionally she was tempted to try and find the box of vases her mum liked to use and leave her a little present, but decided against it as she was the one who was going to be sitting in the truck for Arceus knew how long.

Suddenly, just as she was about to finish the level of the game she was playing, the truck came to a grinding halt, causing the unexpecting passenger to go forward, face first into the door. It took a while for her to come to her senses, which she only gained once more after the trucks large door opened up. Esmerelda squinted her eyes, trying to adjust them to the sudden light change after countless amounts of hours in the darkness. Eventually though, she looked up, her eyes wide open, confirming Esmerelda's original guess that she had finally made it to Littleroot Town, and also was greeted by none other than her mum standing there, beaming away at her daughter as if nothing was wrong.

"Were you having fun down there Esmerelda? It's about time the truck got here, I've been waiting for about an hour now, I was beginning to think that the truck drivers had kidnapped you for the slave market."

"Well seeing that the drivers are Machamps, I see that as an unlikely theory." she pointed out, watching as a couple of Machamps reached into the truck and began to unload their stuff, carrying it all into the house with them, "And besides, you obviously weren't that worried seeing you could have just called. Dad called more than you did."

"Oh yeah, well I forgot." was her mother's reply, causing Esmerelda to sigh at her mums carelessness and negligence towards her, which was nothing new. Her mum continued on talking, causing Esmerelda to snap out her own thoughts, "Anyway, come inside and help unpack. You'll find your bedroom upstairs, the first door on the right. It's quite a lot bigger than your old bedroom you'll find, seeing your father insisted you get a bigger bedroom than the one in our house back in Johto..."

"Mum, my bedroom was a converted airing cupboard."

"Yes well that doesn't matter, you should be grateful for the things you have now, anyway, let's get going."

A few days later, Esmerelda was finally beginning to unpack all of her things after helping her mum perform needless tasks she could have performed herself, like arranging her collectable plate collection while being lectured by her mum if they were '1 cm to the right', causing the whole room to 'lose all of it's charm.' (Her mother's words of stupidity exactly as she said them)

Just as Esmerelda began to put up her 'gym leader swimsuit calendar' (which she had to hide on the inner door of her wardrobe, seeing her mum not only didn't appreciate anything Pokemon related, but also frowned upon fit shirtless men posing for cameras) she heard a familiar voice come from downstairs.

"Esme, where have you gotten to?"

"I'm up here dad!" she called down the stair happily, quickly slamming the wardrobe door shut, positive her dad would also have a similar reaction to the men in the calendar as her mum would.

Her dad had stopped by several times to make sure Esmerelda was settling in comfortably, but was quick to leave once again the minute Esmerelda's mum began to have a go at him, accusing him of pressuring her to finish the paperwork before she was ready to sign them. Esmeralda knew this wasn't the case, and that her dad was just simply worried about leaving her alone with her mum too long, fearing for her sanity. She questioned how her mum had even won custody of her to be honest, longing to be with her dad and his gym, learning more about Pokemon, which her mum absolutely despised in every single way. Secretly, Esmerelda was glad she was more like her dad than her mum, especially since she knew how annoying her mum seemed to everyone she met. Her dad however was quite the opposite, a friend to all, being very helpful and understanding, which Esmerelda liked to see herself as.

Also, her dad was a very clever man when it came to Pokemon, and whenever the two of them were together, they would always end up discussing Pokemon, whether it was about recent Pokemon they had seen or searched on, or about the Pokemon League, which they always watch together on the TV on Esmeralda's birthday, October 31st. Every single trainer that had earned all 8 gym badges that year would attempt to take the Pokemon League challenge on the day of her birthday. Some years, hundreds of people would take part in the event, whereas others would only have one or two people. However, Esmeralda had never seen someone make it past the final member of the Elite Four to the final champion room, which deep down upset Esmerelda, as she never actually had seen the champion, just like everyone else in the region. How she longed to find out who the champion was. She sometimes would have dreams of being the person to discover who the champion was and then beating them, thus becoming the champion herself. However, that proved to be an impossible dream, seeing their was a very little chance her mum would ever let her out on a journey with Pokemon, seeing her mother hated Pokemon. She saw them as nothing more than 'wild vermin' (another idiotic saying from the mouth of her mum) that shouldn't be raised by people, and should be left in the wilderness where they apparently belonged. However, Esmerelda was sure that her mum had actually seen very few Pokemon before. In fact, she was sure that as her mum was an inner city girl, the only Pokemon she had actually seen were Raticate's and Muks, as well as maybe the occasional Unova based Pokemon Trubbish, seeing her mum was from Unova. Esmerelda was also sure that the reason her mum hates Pokemon was on of the reasons her mum and dad no longer wanted to be together, as well as the fact they used to always argue and never saw eye to eye. She often wondered how the two of them had even met in the first place, and how they ever thought a marriage would last between the two of them.

The second her dad came into the room, Esmerelda pounced on him, grasping him tightly in a hug.

"Hey champ." he greeted her, laughing as he did so, "I see your mum's finally letting you sort out your own things now. Funny, I swear the walls weren't this colour last time I checked."

"I just finished painting them, seeing I didn't think mum would ever get round to it herself like she originally promised." she told him, looking back at her handiwork. The walls were originally a really disgusting snot colour, or 'the colour to suit the name Esmerelda' as her mum had said originally after Esmerelda's original comments on it. She wasn't sure whether her mum did actually think Emerald's were the colour of snot, or if she simply saw her name like that, or worse, her. The walls were now however a light baby pink sort of colour, meaning that Esmerelda had to actually coat the walls with about 7 different layers to try and hide the disgusting colour from sight.

"Does your mum even know you've done this yourself?"

"No, she went out early this morning to go shopping in some town, I think she said she'd be back tomorrow or something."

"So what you're saying is that she's left a 12 year old girl home alone once again, without alerting the father?" Esmerelda nodded, causing her father to sigh and roll his eyes, "That woman is just... At least she gave me a spare key to this place. Anyway, I'm not here to moan about your mother, I'm here to ask if you want to come with me to see a friend of mine."

"A friend?"

"Yeah, he lives literally right next door, his names Professor Daniel Birch, I think he also has a son a little older than you. I need to go talk to the Professor about something, so I was just wondering if you'd like to go see if he's at the lab and I can introduce you to him. Who knows, maybe you could help him with his research."

Esmerelda looked at her dad. She could tell her was hiding something from her, a secret of some sort, and she could tell that going with him would be the only way for her to discover the secret.

"Well seeing I've kind of been abandoned and I got nothing better to do, I'll come along." Esmerelda agreed.

"Great!" her father cheered, almost sounding relieved when he heard her agree, "I'll be waiting downstairs for you, hurry up and get your shoes on and get ready. Oh, and you may want to change your shirt, it's covered in pink."


	2. A Loyal Wood Gecko

Chapter Two  
A Loyal Wood Gecko

"Hello?"  
"Dad, we've been standing outside the lab for about five minutes knocking now, I don't think anyone is in." Esmerelda told him, starting to sound slightly impatient now. Normally, she wouldn't mind. However, the constant knocking sound her father produced as he banged aimlessly on the lab's glass door was starting to bother her, and was reminding her of the truck ride from a few days back with the continuous thudding she had to cope with for hours. Basically, it was bringing back bad memories and she hated it.  
"You're right Esme." Her father sighed, stepping back away from the door at long last and placing his hands on his hips, his face showing he was deep in thought, planning what was to happen next. Finally, he turned to Esmerelda, "He might be at his house still, why don't you run over and find out, while I stay here and keep an eye out in case he shows up."  
"Why can't I stay here and you go? He is your friend after all." Esmerelda asked, despite the fact she was actually excited her dad wanted her to go.  
"Cause I'm your dad and I said so, now go on, you might miss him, and then we'll get nowhere."

When Esmerelda finally got to the house right next door to hers, she was surprised to find it wide open. She stood outside the house for several seconds, not sure what to do. She eventually decided to lean inside and call out to see if anyone was inside.  
"Hello?" her voice echoed around the empty voice, coming out more timidly than she would have liked to sound. Despite the fact she has always been told not to step inside a strangers house as a kid, she soon found herself walking inside, despite her better judgement. Looking around, taking in all of her surroundings, she soon realized it looked almost like her house, but with less collectable plates and expensive china pieces, which actually pleased Esmerelda. After all, she hated her mothers obsession with fine china with a burning passion. She was pleased when her mother found some of her most expensive pieces smashed after the moving truck incident. Her mother, however, was not satisfied at all. Esmerelda actually felt sorry for the poor Machamps after witnessing the rant they got. It went on for hours, the poor things.

All of a sudden, Esmerelda heard a loud and ear ringing bang come from the upstairs of the house, closely followed by a loud yelp and angry screaming. Her heroic instincts kicking in, Esmerelda darted up the stairs, and after following the sounds of the angry persons voice, ran into someones bedroom to find a scene of carnage. A gang of Zigzagzoon sat in the room, pieces of paper held firmly in their mouths. On the opposite end of the room, a boy who looked slightly older than her, stood looking both injured and enraged, yelling at the Pokemon, demanding the wild Zigzagzoon's returned what he called 'his research' back that very second. The boy wore a white and green hat which Esmerelda originally mistook to be his hair and a bandanna, but quickly saw his black hair hiding underneath the hat. His clothes were a simular colour to Esmerelda's own clothes as well, being the same shades of orange, green and black. The boy however appeared to have a very poor sense in fashion in Esmerelda's eyes, seeing her was wearing a pair of baggy black leggings under a pair of shorts, which really didn't suit him at all.

"I mean it, give it back!" the boy tried to sound like a threat, but his desperate pleads were obvious in the sound of his voice, "That is top secret research you are holding in your mouths there, some of it being my dad's lives work!" The boys eyes finally rested on the very confused girl, staring in awe at both the boy and the gang of thiefing Zigzagzoon's, "Hey you there, little girl, lend me a hand!"  
"Who are you calling a little girl?" Esmerelda angrily challenged, already quite aware of the fact she was a bit on the small side for her age, "And how am I exactly supposed to help?"  
"With your Pokemon, duh!" The boy replied sarcastically, as if the answer was obvious.  
"And what makes you think I even own a Pokemon?"  
"You mean you don't even own one? What a loser!" The boy scoffed. Esmerelda was about to continue the argument, when she unexpectedly heard several other voices, confusing her.

"Jeez, this guy is meaner than Paul!"  
"Tell me about it, he's a bit sexist as well right?"  
"More like a bully."  
It didn't take long for Esmerelda to realize it was in fact the Zigzagzoon talking, that she could hear. Her eyes widened in shock. Why could she understand what they were saying? It was rare for a person to understand a Pokemon, and even when someone did come along claiming to understand them, they were mainly shunned by society as a 'freak' or as 'insane'.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" said one of the Zigzagzoon's waiting, "Paul wanted the smart lab dudes papers, and we got them, we don't have to wait around listening to this creep diss this girl." Without warning, the three Zigzagzoon's darted towards the door at a quick pace, Esmerleda barely having time to jump out of the way. The boy, now burning red faced in rage, chased after them, but gave up when he stood beside Esmerelda, and for some reason, decided shouting angry words at the trio of Pokemon would somehow make them have a change of heart.  
"COME BACK! I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! JUST WAIT TILL MY FATHER HEARS ABOUT THIS! HE'LL HAVE YOUR KIND WIPED OUT!" the boy yelled his final warnings, before panting quickly, as if trying to catch his breath. Eventually, he remembered the girl he had previously been insulting was still there, watching his every pathetic move, and turned all of his attention back to her.

"Well, I hope you're happy now!"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Esmerelda snapped back, her patience being tested to the max.  
"They got away because of you! You did nothing on purpose, you purposely wanted my father to lose his research, you wanted to sabotage our plans on purpose, you little brat. I wouldn't be surprised if you were the one who sent those Zigzagzoon. Just wait till my father hears this, he'll have your head!"  
Esmerelda couldn't help but laugh at the boys empty threats, "Do you realize how stupid you sound right now? 'Oh just wait till my father hears about this.'" she mimiced the boy in what was almost a perfect impression of the boys whining, "From what I understand, your dad is nothing more than a professor, what makes you think he can wipe out not only the entire Zigzagzoon species, but also get away with chopping off my head. Speaking of your father, who I can only guess is Professor Birch, correct, it appears he's not here, which is in fact the only reason I came here in the first place, which means I will be leaving before I get insulted any further by scum like you."

With her parting words, she quickly fled from the mad house before the boy could even realize what was going on. Taking a minute to regain her breath and work out exactly what had just happened, she glanced back at the house, furrowing her eyebrows as she did.  
"Who does he think he is? What a little sod. I hope his father isn't like him, because otherwise I am going to question my dad's choice in friends." she said to herself, before sticking her tounge out childishly at the house.  
"Um excuse me miss." she heard. Looking away from the house, she soon found herself looking down at a small young child, with tears in her eyes and a worried expression on her face.  
"Oh hey kid, what's up?"  
"Um, I don't mean to be a bother, but I can hear a man screaming for help over on Route 101, and a lot of scary Pokemon cries. I want to go see what is happening, but I am not allowed outside the town, because otherwise my mummy will be cross. Could you maybe go see what is happening for me? I am scared that someone could be in danger."  
Esmerelda's mind set back to the Zigzagzoon's she had seen earlier, although they were not exactly as scary as the young child made them out to be, with no Pokemon, they were a threat. If it was one of the Zigzagzoon's the girl had heard from earlier, there was a possibility someone was in danger. Without properly thinking about the situation, Esmerelda instead nodded at the girl, agreeing to her request.  
"Just lead the way."

After walking for a while alone down route 101, she eventually heard the noises that the girl had been referring too.  
"H-Help me!"  
"Stay still old man so I can get the papers for my boss."  
Esmerelda immediatly broke out into a sprint, recognising the voice of one of the Zigzagzoon's from earlier. She skidded to a halt when she found a plump looking man running around in circles frantically while being chased by a determined looking Zigzagzoon, which Esmerelda knew was one of the ones from earlier.  
"Hello, you, over there!" The man called over to her, obviously taking notice of her presence, "Please, I am begging you, please help me!"  
"Hang on, I'll go get help!" Esmerelda shouted over to him, going to go run back to find her dad. However, she was stopped by the mans words once more.  
"What, you can't leave me like this! Use your Pokemon please!"  
"But I don't have a Pokemon!" Esmerelda protested. Why did everyone just immediatly assume she had a Pokemon of her own? Surely there had to be some people in this region without a Pokemon to call their own. Her mum was one for example.  
"In my bag! There's three, choose one please! Just hurry!" the man pleaded. Esmerelda looked round frantically looked round for the bag, and eventually found it lying not the far from her. After a quick dash, she opened the bag and saw three Pokeballs in front of her. She reached for the first one she saw, and threw it in the air.

Out popped a green gecko like Pokemon, which Esmerelda instantly recognised to be a Treecko, a Pokemon her dad and her had researched quite a lot back when they were in Olivine City. He looked at Esmerelda with a confused look on his face.  
"Wait, you ain't Birch." he said her.  
"I know I am not your trainer, but please, I need your help!"  
The Treecko's eyes widened in surprise, "Wait, you can understand me?"  
"No time to explain, just please, beat the hell out of the Zigzagzoon there before he ends up hurting that man!"  
The Treecko turned around and observed the comical chase scene going on, a smug look on his face, as if he almost found it amusing.  
"This isn't the time to be laughing!" the terrified girl screamed. The Treecko turned to face one last time, rolled his eyes, and went to and tackled the Zigzagzoon to the ground, before standing towering above the frightened young Pokemon.  
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" The Treecko said, sounding seriously sinister enough to send shivers down Esmerelda's spine as she watched. This appeared to scare the Zigzagzoon as well, as he immediatly answered the Pokemon in fear of being hurt any further.  
"I'm sorry, it's just my boss sent me to get the Professors research."  
"And who exactly is your boss?" The Treecko asked casually, looking at his paw as he spoke, but still at the same time looking menacing.  
"A Poochyena name Paul. He's in charge of all the Zigzagzoon on this route. You gotta understand, please, I had to do this!"

After several more seconds of watching the Zigzagzoon cower in fear at the mercy of the Treecko, Esmerelda decided to intervene.  
"I think he get's the message now!"  
The Treecko looked at her, before smiling and stepping away from the Zigzagzoon and beginning to walk back towards the dazed Professor and Esmerelda, speaking to the Zigzagzoon without looking back.  
"Tell this Paul guy for me to stop being a douche ok? Or else he's going to have to deal with me."  
Esmerelda wasn't sure if the Zigzagzoon had heard this or not, as he scurried away as quickly as he could the instant he was sure that the Treecko was out of harms way.

"Thank you miss!" The Professor said to her as Esmerelda went to turn away.  
"It's no trouble at all, and please, just call me Esme."  
"Esme? Hang on, you must young Esmerelda Green, the daughter of Norman, correct?"  
"That's me." Esmerleda smiled, as she often did when she was refered to as her fathers daughter, rather than her mothers.  
"Norman's told me quite a lot about you. He says you are very talented when it comes to Pokemon. Oh and by the way, the name is Birch. Daniel Birch, Pokemon Professor."  
"I figured." Esmerelda said, shaking the mans hand firmly, "I wouldn't say I am talented with Pokemon. I mean, I've never actually had a Pokemon of my own."  
The Professors eyes widened in shock, before looking down at the bored looking Treecko, who was watching the situation, "Well, Esme, walk with me back to my lab. I want to talk to you about something."

As the Professor returned to the Treecko to his pokeball, and the pair walked back towards the town, Esmerelda could sense that she was being observed. She vagely glanced around, trying not to make her worry obvious, thinking it was just her imagination after the adrenaline rush of battle. She hadn't seen the small Poochyena, curled up in a nearby tree, watching the girl with a great fasination. A smug grin on his face, he wagged his tail in anticipation, as he began to plot.


	3. Lesley and Paul

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Lesley and Paul**

"Esmerleda where were you young lady?!"  
"Dad listen before you go on..."  
"No you listen here, do you know how worried sick I was? I send you out on a simple errand and you dissapere off the fate of the earth! I go round to find you and find a trashed house and Professor Birch's son moaning about you, and how you apparently stole his research, and then I find out from some little kid you've ran off into route 101 without a Pokemon! I can't believe you Esemerelda really I... wait is that a Pokeball in your hand?"  
"Yes dad," Esmerelda sighed, secretly relieved someone actually cared about her, "Professor Birch lent him to me."  
"Professor Birch?" her dad stuttered in shock, just as Professor Birch came round the corner, briefcase in hand.  
"Norman! I got told you were waiting here. You're daughter Esme has potential, she's amazing and a hero." Professor Birch laughed.  
"Wait, what's going on? What do you mean a hero? Did she not steal your research?"  
"Dad I'm not a thief!" Esmerelda yelled in rage. Professor Birch simply laughed and patted the confused man on the back.  
"Come inside, I'll explain it all in there where I am certain no more Zigzagzoon will attack me."  
"Zigzagzoon? This sure sounds like an interesting story."

While Professor Birch explained the situation to her dad, Esmerelda sat in another room with the Treecko, trying to figure out the whole situation about being able to understand the Pokemon she had borrowed.  
"So, I can understand you?"  
"Well it depends, can you hear this?" The Treecko sighed sarcastically.  
"Yes, ok I get it, no need to be so sarcastic about it all." Esmerelda snapped, pouting out her bottom lip as she spoke.  
"Well sorry, but in all fairness I'm not going to be that happy after answering that question 5 times every minute."  
"You do have a point, I'm sorry. Really." Esmerelda said, "It's just a bit of a shock. I mean, it's not normal is it? And it's not like I've grown up knowing this information."  
"Have you ever seen a Pokemon up close?" the Treecko asked. Esmerelda shook her head.  
"Never up close, my mum never let me. And to be honest I was always scared of my dad's Pokemon. They're strong, and from the stories he would tell me, they are capable of snapping me into two."  
"I doubt they would do that you know."  
"Yeah but the thought still scares me." Esmerelda whined.  
"Right sorry, forgot I was dealing with a wimp here." The Treecko laughed.

Ignoring Esmerelda's angry and shocked expression, he carried on casually, "For a girl whose never been close to Pokemon though, you handled that situation well earlier."  
"I didn't do anything expect for get you out your Pokeball."  
"Most people would scream and flee and leave the scientist man to the hounds, or in this case, the Zigzagzoon's. You stuck around long enough to see me kick his butt, you're off to a good start."  
"Thank you. Hey, I'm just curious, do you have a name, or are you just Treecko?"  
"I have a name, and it's Lesley." The Treecko told her proudly, "And don't you forget it."  
"I won't don't worry." Esmerelda told him happily, patting him on the head gently, causing him to protest.  
"Hey stop it, that tickles." he told her, trying to contain his giggles as he did.  
"Esme!" called her dad from the other room.  
"COMING!" she shouted, pulling herself to her feet. Lesley jumpped up and began to climb up her back, before perching himself on the young girls shoulder, which came as a shock to her at first. However, she simply took it as a friendly gesture and made her way to the other room, where Professor Birch and her dad stood waiting for her.

"Wow Esme, it seems that the Treecko there has grown quite attached to you." her dad said, beaming away at her.  
"His name is Lesley." Esmerelda replied casually, without really thinking. Both the Professor and her dad stared at her in bewilderment.  
"You gave him a name?" It was only after the Professor said this, that Esmerelda realised what she had done, and began to rapidly grow more and more anxious, her heart beating as she began to think of a way to possibly get out of the situation without sounding weird.  
"Hey kid." the sound of Lesley's impatient voice startled her from her thoughts, "Just tell them, no lie is going to get you out of this situation."  
Sighing, Esmerelda nodded in agreement, before looking at the two confused men standing there, and began to explain the whole situation, which she described as the 'Lesley Incident' (much to the Treecko's disgust)

At first, it seemed neither of them believed her words. It was only once she finished her story however, that they seemed to actually be more fascinated by the story rather than confused. Professor Birch even began to ask Esmerelda more and more questions about it, most of which deffinatly were not answerable seeing she had only discovered this herself not an hour before.  
"Daniel please, calm down." her dad interupted after what seemed like hours of awkward interrogation from him.  
"I'm sorry Norman, but wow... your daughter sure is something special. I mean, you don't meet a person everyday who can communicate with Pokemon."  
"He is right Esmerelda. But it's also not something to go shouting around. Don't forget, some people won't be understanding, and will probably ridicule you and won't believe it. Like your mother for example."  
"Oh please you must be crazy if you think I am going to tell her." Esmerelda scoffed.

"Esmerelda," Professor Birch interuppted, "I was wondering if maybe you would like to keep the Treecko there... oh sorry, Lesley, right? You know, just because you don't have a Pokemon of your own."  
"Really? You mean it?" Esmerelda yelped, sounding like an over excited 5 year old who had eaten too much sugar.  
"Of course. If it's ok with your dad and with Lesley of course."  
Her dad shrugged, a casual smile on his face, "It's alright with me."  
Esmerelda glanced at Lesley, who was grinning at her with the same expression on his face.  
"You don't even have to ask, I'm fine with it. It would be a pleasure for me to have you as my trainer, miss Esmerelda Green."  
"Well then, I accept. Thank you so much Professor. I'll make it up to you I promise." Esmerelda told him.  
"Oh come on Esmerelda, you didn't expect me just to give you the Treecko for free now, did you? There's a slight catch you know."  
"A catch? Isn't saving your life enough?"  
"Not quite. There's something I need to give you though before you go and complete this task for me. However, I am afraid that this item is in the possession of my son Brendan, who I expect is currently on Route 103 at the moment, so you'll have to go there to retrieve it."  
"Wait, your son is the boy with black hair and a weird white hat that looks like hair, correct?"  
"Um... yes..."  
"Oh great. This should be fun." Esmerelda sighed.

Her dad soon took off back for Petalburg City, leaving Esmerelda and Lesley treking through Route 101 alone, heading towards Brendan, much to Esmerelda's disgust. She wasn't looking forward to coming face to face with him again, especially after the incident earlier.  
"Hey Esme... you ok?"  
"Not really. Brendan's a bit of a douche."  
"You've already met him?" Lesley asked.  
"Sadly yes, and it wasn't pleasent, I'll leave it at that."  
Lesley looked as if he wanted to question the girl further, but was however interuppted by the sounds of russtling coming from the bushes.  
"Is it another Zigzagzoon do you recon?" Esmerelda asked, her emerelda green eyes fixated on the bushes.  
"Show yourself coward!" Lesley shouted,ignoring Esmerelda's question. 

"Coward? That's a bit impolite don't you think?"  
It wasn't a Zigzagzoon that emerged from the bushes, but in fact a small, grey, puppy like Pokemon, which Esmerelda recognized to be a Poochyena. He had bright yellow and red eyes, that somehow managed to look both fierce and utterly adorable at the same time. He stood there with a smug smirk on his face, causing two lone fangs to stick out on either side of his mouth.  
"Who are you?" Lesley asked.  
"I should be asking you both that question, seeing you're technically on my turf."  
"Ha, don't make me laugh." Lesley muttered sarcastically.  
The Poochyena chose to ignore Lesley's sarcasm and instead rolled his eyes.  
"I believe you both have already heard my name today already, correct?" he paused, before sighing after looking at both Lesley and Esmerelda's blank and vacant faces, "From the Zigzagzoon."  
"Wait, you're Paul?" Esmerelda asked.  
"Yep. The one and only."  
"So you're the one who sent that Zigzagzoon after the Professor? Why in the name of Mew would you do that?" Lesley yelled angrily at him.  
Paul glared at him in anger, obviously annoyed by Lesley. "Why should I tell you?"  
"Because he was my old trainer, and I protect those who are close to me." Lesley growled. This seemed to amuse Paul, as he let out a soft and sarcastic chuckle.  
"And trust me, that's only going to get you into trouble."  
"So what? Tell me what you sent the Zigzagzoon's for, or else." Lesley growled.  
"He's got a piece of information I wanted to know about. But it doesn't matter anymore, I think it's best I don't know about it." Paul replied, turning his back towards the pair and beginning to walk away slowly back to the bushes he emerged from, "It was a pleasure to meet you both... I guess..."  
"Hey, I ain't done with you yet!" Lesley shouted after him.  
"Just leave him, I'd rather not get into another Pokemon battle just yet, I'm still a bit shaken up from the whole Zigzagzoon incident." Esmerelda muttered. Lesley looked at first as if he wanted to protest about this, but eventually just nodded and began to walk ahead with his arms folded.  
"Fine. But I'm only agreeing because I have this feeling that this won't be the first time we see him. I swear though, I will avenge the Professor." Lesley called back to her.  
Esmerelda sighed, "You're making it sound like Birch is dead or something." 


End file.
